Loving Glow
by peroxidepest17
Summary: Companion Piece to “Welcome Glow” Still waiting.


**Title:** Loving Glow  
**Author:** Celeste  
**Universe:** Bleach   
**Theme/Topic:** Shuuhei chases Yumi this time?  
**Rating:** PG-15  
**Character/Pairing/s:** ShuuxYumi, Kenpachi, Iba  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** Whole Soul Society Arc, through around 212 for the Arrankar arc, some OOC and sap.  
**Word Count: **3,040  
**Time:** two hours, nine minutes.  
**Summary:** Companion Piece to "Welcome Glow"- Still waiting.  
**Dedication:** Jeina for the LOVELY art, and Jen for tagging all my entries because I'm too lazy/clueless to do it myself. ;; And kshi for the SUGAR. 3  
**A/N: **SCHMOOPY because kshi's translations of Japanese Shuumi fanart sites for me today lead to sugar overdose. This is me working it out of my system, yes.  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, though I wish constantly.  
**Distribution:** Just lemme know.

* * *

"You look sore."

Yumichika frowned at his captain. "That's completely un…"

Kenpachi scowled. "Not _that _kinda sore, stupid. Ya look unhappy, 's what I meant," the captain hastily corrected, before his fifth seat could get all prissy about his being crude.

He was crude, but only about certain things.

Definitely not… he cringed. Well, you know.

"I'm not unhappy," Yumichika told him, crossing his arms and furrowing his brow as he concentrated his gaze on the floor. "I'm confused."

Zaraki snorted. "Just for the record, when I made that comment when I came in, it wasn't an invitation for you to go ahead'n tell me 'bout your problems. I ain't Ikkaku you know, and I don't give a rat's…"

Yumichika turned his eyes up to meet his captain's. "He didn't want me!"

Kenpachi blinked at the vehemence in his subordinate's voice. "He…what? Huh?"

Ayasekawa looked simultaneously mortified and disbelieving at having admitted it out loud to himself. "Last night, he didn't want to sleep with me," he repeated, softer.

Kenpachi desperately looked over his shoulder for someone else he could force into listening to this.

No one.

Dammit.

"Uh…"

"I mean, I know it's a bit fast, but given the circumstances… I have to return to the mission with Hitsugaya-taichou tomorrow morning. And I _know_ I like him! He's so cute, of course I like him. And the way he smiles at me… he has to like me too. And the flowers say so, so I'm really very confused as to why he'll kiss me but won't… you know. This has never happened to me before! I don't understand…"

Kenpachi stared in horror as the sentences started getting longer and longer and Yumichika looked more and more distressed. Searching for something, _anything_ to say, the eleventh division captain hastily blurted, "he's scared!" without knowing what the words meant or where they came from, undoubtedly the work of some deeply imbedded, automatic male self-preservation instinct.

Yumichika blinked at him. "Scared? Why would he be scared?"

Kenpachi blinked back. "Er… on account of you bein' so…um… intimidatin'?"

The fifth seat looked thoughtful. "Intimidating…"

Kenpachi held his breath until the telltale light of realization turned on in the other man's eyes.

"Of course."

The captain grunted in relief. "Well…yeah. I mean… yeah."

Beaming at his leader, the fifth chair declared, "My, taichou… your rare flashes of intelligence do choose to surface at the strangest times."

Kenpachi wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. "Uh… okay. Are you going to stop talking to me now?"

Yumichika nodded. "I'm going to go see Shuuhei. Thank you, taichou!"

Zaraki stared after him. Turned to the stack of papers in his hand. The ones he'd been dropping off to the fifth chair regarding his reports to Center 46 about the Arrankar battle. "Um… ain't it work time?"

Ayasekawa was already gone.

After a moment, the eleventh division captain mentally shrugged and tossed the dossier onto Ikkaku's desk. Madarame could deal with the paperwork.

The idiot wasn't here to protest about it after all.

Liking that thought, Zaraki made a mental note to drop off the rest of his day's reports on Ikkaku's desk and ambled off in search of some beer and a fruit cup.

-----

Meanwhile, one Hisagi Shuuhei was in the Research and Technology Institute's Main Library, hastily grabbing any resources he could get his hand on.

Yumichika was leaving tomorrow.

And while he'd had plenty of suggestive dreams (and resulting dirty shorts) regarding the topic, the vice-captain didn't think the choppy images from his late nights translated into any sort of viable sexual know-how.

Thus, research.

Granted, Akon and a good number of his research assistants had looked at him funny when he'd revealed the topic of his research here today, but for once, Shuuhei was too pressed for time to worry about how he appeared to those who didn't know the details of his current situation.

It had taken every ounce of what willpower he had to pull back from Yumichika last night after he'd walked the other man to his door.

What was supposed to be a good-night kiss had turned into more than that—a damned make out session really—and he'd let it get to the point where Ayasekawa had been fumbling to open his door backwards before he'd forced himself away and said that he'd best go.

Yumichika's first night back he'd indulged that Hisagi might not have been ready. Had smiled sweetly at him and pressed one last, lingering kiss to the corner of the vice-captain's mouth before slipping wordlessly into his quarters, closing the door behind him.

His second night back he'd pouted, but Shuuhei had managed to use the excuse that Yumichika had a big day ahead regarding his and Toushirou's informational talks to the assembled gotei-13 leaders regarding their findings, and he had to be well prepared for it.

Last night… well, last night he'd lamely excused himself at the door again, citing an early day of work ahead for them both before limping back towards the ninth-division and taking a long, cold shower.

He'd hoped to gather some information about sex over the past few days—namely the kind you had with another man—by asking around those who he thought might have an idea on the subject. In a subtle manner, of course.

Yesterday, Kuchiki-taichou had frowned at him, sniffed, and strode off with a, "I'm quite sure I don't know what you mean, fukutaichou."

Kyouraku-taichou had been on the verge of saying something—possibly in great detail—until Nanao had caught him and thwacked him over the head with her book, scowling at the repentant captain and stating that she was very certain Ukitake-taichou would not appreciate his big mouth.

Shiba Ganjyu had snorted at him at first, shoving him in the chest and belligerently exclaiming, "The hell are you insinuatin' huh?" until Yamada had been called away to duty. Then, the younger man had hunkered down next to Shuuhei and nervously whispered, "Oi… you find out how it's supposed to work, you let me know, huh? The uh, the shovin' was nothin' personal."

Kira had turned both pink and despondent when he'd asked the blonde, and Shuuhei had spent a good deal of their lunch break assuring Izuru that he hadn't meant anything cruel when he'd asked.

Today, when he'd brought it up, Iba had laughed at him heartily and then punched him just as heartily in the stomach for the insinuation. The other vice-captain had cited that he'd done Shuuhei a favor by avoiding the face because he knew about the thing with Ayasekawa. He'd said, "Fallin' hard and fast man, that ain't like you," while Shuuhei had gritted his teeth and waited for the breath to come back to his lungs. Then, "But ya know… Ayasekawa fallin' slow'n hard… not like him either. Weird."

After punching Iba back in the head, Shuuhei had gone to the fourth division for further information—a pamphlet maybe?-- but neither Unohana-taichou or Kotetsu-fukutaichou had been in, and he'd been stuck listening to Iemura for a good half-hour, learning absolutely nothing as the third seat had stammered and flushed and gone on about what sounded like the wonders of abstinence and sex after marriage.

No help at all.

And so Shuuhei was utilizing the last resource available to him here—books.

"You want books on _what_?" Akon had asked, blinking in disbelief when Shuuhei had approached him.

Hisagi's face had fallen at the exclamation. "So you don't have any?"

Akon frowned. "Um… let me call up some of my library assistants. I'm sure there's something." Pause. "Shouldn't you be working?"

There had indeed been something.

And technically, yes. Shuuhei should have been working.

But instead, Shuuhei was currently poring over those somethings the research assistants had managed to find for him, sitting in the back corner of seireitei's immense library and reading quickly, all the while trying not to make choking sounds of disbelief as he did.

Or you know, other noises, because these texts were giving his dreams actual context now.

He read as fast as he could and decided that he had a valid excuse just for today, for skipping out on work despite being currently in-charge of the ninth division.

Life wasn't just about duty, he was beginning to learn.

Though the fact that he was beginning to think that it might be just about Ayasekawa could be considered a biased view.

The point was, he was man enough to know when he was head over heels. He could admit that to himself.

He could also admit that he knew jack shit about having sex with the person he liked, and that he had to learn about it at least a little, before he… well, did it.

Because he didn't want Yumichika to be doing all the work (the thought embarrassed him) and he didn't want to end up embarrassing himself by doing something wrong (the thought mortified him) and really, it would probably be better for both of them if he wasn't so clueless that he froze with nervousness every time the thought of sex with Yumi occurred to him (the thought occurred more and more often these days).

Mostly, he didn't want to hurt Yumi because he hadn't had any foresight into looking in on the topic before the fact.

So…research.

He was learning quite a bit.

Oddly enough, it wasn't helping with his nervousness any.

Though he was freezing a lot more than he would have liked.

Sighing, he flipped to the next book, eyeing the sun as it climbed higher and higher into the sky.

Yumichika was leaving tomorrow.

He read faster.

-----

Yumichika frowned when he was told that Hisagi-fukutaichou wasn't in today, the frantic third chair of the ninth division citing that he'd received a note early this morning placing him in charge, as Shuuhei had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

"To be honest, I thought he meant _you_," the third chair admitted, looking at Yumi in puzzlement. "You haven't seen him at _all_ today?"

Yumichika shook his head. "Not once."

Disheartened, the fifth chair exited the ninth division and headed for the seventh.

"What, he weren't with you?" Iba asked when he saw Ayasekawa. "Thought you was leavin' tomorrow."

"I am."

"Well… he's been goin' around askin' all sortsa fool questions lately. Stuff a man shouldn't ever ask another man, in my opinion."

"Like what?"

Iba made a face. "You weren't listenin' to a word I said, was ya?"

Yumichika rolled his eyes. Some people never changed. "Just…do you know where he is?"

"Hmmm… think he said he was goin' to the fourth division hospice for somethin'?"

Yumichika blinked, growing worried. "Was he not feeling well?"

"Che, fucker was feelin' well enough to punch me in the goddamned head," the vice-captain responded, sounding sore. "But ya might check there, I s'pose, Yumi."

"Thank you."

"Oh… uh… quick question," Iba offered, before the other man could turn to leave. "Don't take it personal or nothin'… but I'm real curious, since Shuuhei's sorta maybe my best-friend and all. You uh… you…"

Yumichika offered a tired smile. "My intentions are completely honorable."

Iba blinked. "It's so damn weird to hear you say that."

Ayasekawa sniffed. "Well, some of us, fukutaichou, change with time."

Iba grunted. "Yeah well." He fidgeted, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Treat him nice. He's an idiot, but he's one of the better guys I know. So."

Yumi chuckled a little. "Why Iba… maybe you _have_ grown after all this time."

"'Course I have. And do me another favor, will ya? Sex that boy up soon, he's drivin' everyone crazy."

Ayasekawa sighed. "A stunted growth, but one nonetheless. Good afternoon, Iba."

"See ya."

With that Yumichika made the trek to the fourth division, hoping that Shuuhei wasn't sick or anything. If he was, he'd make the other man a big pot of soup and pamper him for the rest of the night to be certain, he just couldn't help but hope that everything was okay because--despite how crudely he'd put it—Iba had been right.

He did want to sex that boy up. Soon.

It just seemed very important all of a sudden.

Maybe it was the underlying fear of having to return to the field so quickly. Watching the fight between Ikkaku and the Arrankar had been difficult, and he knew the strength of their opponents well enough to understand that there was a distinct possibility he might not return from the Karakura mission if the attacks persisted.

He'd never feared his own mortality before. It wasn't something eleventh division members ever really did.

But then again, he'd never been in love before either. He'd had passing fancies, bored nights, need of food and lodging, challenges, and not-bad-lookings, but love had never been a factor in his sex life and he hadn't planned on it ever getting there because it wasn't conducive to survival at the time.

But now it was.

And it seemed to have a habit of changing things.

He didn't want to die before, of course, but now he didn't want to die because he knew there was someone else who didn't want him to die either.

It was a weird feeling to have all of a sudden, but not an unpleasant one.

And so tonight felt important, and as Yumichika neared the fourth division building, he hoped Shuuhei felt the same.

-----

"I need to um… get some of that…stuff," Shuuhei managed, turning slightly red as he gestured vaguely to a section in the book he'd been reading.

Akon blinked. Looked at the text. Then, "We uh… don't have anything like that here."

"No?"

"Try the fourth division."

Shuuhei made a face at the thought of having to face Iemura again. "Are you…"

"I'm sure. And the things that _could _pass for that around here are chemicals that could result in an unpleasant burning sensation," the scientist continued drolly. "Now get out of here, it's almost dinner time."

"Ah, shit. Right. Thanks!" Shuuhei hastily uttered, moving for the exit.

He dashed out with a wave at the assistants who'd helped him locate his texts earlier and headed towards the fourth division headquarters, hoping he would be able to pick up what he needed from there and not be too late in picking Ayasekawa up for dinner.

He didn't expect to run into Yumichika at the gate.

He blinked when he saw the other man.

Yumichika blinked back.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Pause.

"Are you feeling okay?" they both asked at the same time.

They laughed.

"I'm alright," Shuuhei assured the smaller man with a small smile.

"Me too."

"Well…good. Um… I mean, not that I… well… what're you doing here then?" Shuuhei prompted, looking a bit nervous.

"I came here looking for you," Yumichika told him, brow furrowing a little bit.

Shuuhei wanted to reach out and smooth the wrinkles away.

"Really?" he said instead.

"I went to your division first…" Yumichika looked at him expectantly. "Last night you said… I mean… I thought you had a lot of work to do today?"

Shuuhei blinked.

Shit.

Feeling like seven kinds of asshole, he looked down at Yumichika's neck because he couldn't quite meet the other man's eyes. "Well… you see… there's an explanation for that."

Yumi waited.

Shuuhei looked up, sheepish. "Um… promise not to laugh okay?"

Laugh? He hadn't expected something like this. Yumi arched a brow. "…I promise."

"I uh… I took the day off," Shuuhei began. "So I could do some… research."

Yumichika blinked. "Research?" He wrinkled his nose. "On what?"

Hisagi rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, his face turning red. "Um… on how to uh… on howtohavesexwithyou."

Pause.

"Excuse me?"

Shuuhei took a deep breath. Set his jaw. "I uh… I was lookin' up stuff on how to have sex with you," he repeated, eyes still trained on the other man's throat.

A longer pause.

And then, Yumichika laughed.

"Oi…" Shuuhei protested automatically, eyes shooting up to the other man's face. "I thought you promised not to…" he trailed off when he saw the apparent relief in Ayasekawa's eyes, though a part of him remained indignant regardless of the fact. He sighed. "So that's what I've been doin' all day."

"Oh, Shuuhei. I'm sorry…it's just…" Yumichika gave up on trying to talk, and still smiling, stepped forward to wrap his arms around the taller man's neck, standing on his toes to kiss the vice-captain. "You're so cute," he whispered, chuckling.

Shuuhei wanted to pout, but he was too busy wrapping his arms around the other man's waist to worry about that right this second. "Yeah, well." He touched his forehead to Yumi's and sighed. "I didn't want to be completely hopeless for you."

Yumichika kissed him again, because it was impossible not to. "That's sweet. What did you end up using for research, hmmm?"

Shuuhei's blush intensified. "Books."

Yumi giggled. "With pictures?"

"…yeah. Lots."

Yumichika laughed right against Shuuhei's mouth then, relieved and possibly even more in love than he'd been five minutes ago. "Oh, sweetie," he murmured, teasing, "I'm much bendier than anything you possibly could have read about in your books."

Shuuhei's brain promptly shut off.

Winking, Yumi wiggled out of the vice-captain's hold and turned around, starting to walk. "But I'll show you after dinner, ne? We'd better go if we want to make the reservation."

Shuuhei stared after the other man, meaning to say, "I look forward to it!" but shouting, "Holy god, I love you," instead.

Pause.

Well.

He'd planned for that to come out in a much more romantic way, really he had.

Yumichika turned back around.

Shuuhei swallowed. "Um… I…"

The apology died in his throat as he watched a slow smile spread across Yumi's face. At the sight of it, he felt his heart stop beating for a second.

"I just…thought you should know," he offered instead, blushing horribly.

Yumichika's eyes glittered. "Ne…Shuuhei?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you very hungry?"

The vice-captain blinked. Licked his lips nervously. "I uh… don't have to eat right this minute."

The fifth chair beamed and reached his hand out towards the other man. "C'mon."

Shuuhei grinned and moved to catch up.

**END**


End file.
